


I Am an Exit

by tenderguns



Series: Ruiner [1]
Category: At Dead Of Night (Video Game)
Genre: Other, Title from a Nine Inch Nails Song, alternate ending sorry maya, ambiguous ending, im so bad at tagging, set in that one cutscene where jimmy's wildin' out for maya lmao, the entity possessing jimmy pretending to be him??, the one in hugo's grave, this is not coherent have fun, unrequited feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:41:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29686200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenderguns/pseuds/tenderguns
Summary: Jimmy fights for Maya. Maya fights for herself.
Relationships: Jimmy Hall | Hugo Punch & Maya
Series: Ruiner [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2181951
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	I Am an Exit

Maybe it's just the complete absence of love she feels in this moment, or the shock at learning that there is so much fear in being wanted, but something crumbles in Maya the second Jimmy says they're destined to be together.

She wishes she could feel anything but _numbnumbnumb._ Her hand is at her brow, nursing the sharp throb of her head wound. Her legs burn so dully they tremble. She blinks the blood out of her eyes and waits. Somewhere far away, she has a thought.

It is no surprise to hear the feeble snap of the light switch, but when Jimmy rounds the corner and Maya watches him look at her as if for the first time, she has never felt more empty, more alone in her life. 

"Hello, Maya," he smiles, and raises his batting arm with one fluid motion, and she doesn't even shout anymore, just slams the door, locks it, pushes back from it.

 _He is too old for me_ is all Maya thinks, ridiculously, and after this whole mad night, _this_ is what breaks her. This is whatmakes her lean her forehead against the cool metal door and just _laugh_. She is so tired. She has _been_ tired. Her friends are drugged or dying or dead. Her parents are sleeping through the waking dawn, somewhere distant. She knows Jimmy has registered it when she hears his sharp intake of breath, the quiver in it, muffled as if her head were underwater.

When he spoke again, his voice was thick with delight. "We _are_ the same."

She doesn't care whether Jimmy wants to kill her or burn her or stab her or fuck her or keep her here forever. This does not fly. _"Fuck you!"_ she screams, a noise she has never heard herself make before, surely too shrill to be her own voice.

She suddenly remembers her thought, and it knocks the wind out of her. _If he catches me, he might rape me before he kills me._

"This is not going to _work,_ Maya!" He says her name as if she were a petulant child. He says her name like it's a spell he can cast if he repeats it enough. And she _hates_ , suddenly, a hate that aches down to her bones. Panic like a brace grasping her shoulders.

His fists on the door. Goddamnit, where is her head at?

Maya hears him crouch and lean against the heavy door for support, and _lockpick_ is all she can think, a wild flash of fear across her mind that stills the breath in her throat. She is looking around for anything to use as a weapon when she hears Jimmy speak again, in a soft voice that raises the hair on her spine. This is not a man changed. This is a man performing.

"You know, Maya, it's not just him. Not quite yet."

She stops and listens. She can afford to bide her time.

"This won't be so bad when all's said and done, Maya. I don't know if he'll even kill you."

She lets out a gasping laugh, hysteria rising in her throat. "Oh? Consider me _honoured._ " She pauses, as if that would somehow choose wiser words for her. "You can't even stand up for yourself enough to give me a solid fucking answer?" A final pause, if only to brace herself. "How are you supposed to keep us together if you can't keep yourself together?"

A beat, in which the only noise is the thrum of her heart.

" _Yes._ You understand me, Maya." His voice was suddenly rough with use and elation, _hungry_. She could almost believe him if not for that hunger. "I'm weak, Maya. Whatever's in me, it's been in all of us. This isn't me. This doesn't have to be me." 

Maya drew back her head and tapped her forehead against it. _Fuck._ "Please, Jimmy."

His voice was suddenly an octave higher, a more desperate note clinging to it. "It really wouldn't be so bad, Maya."

She doesn't recognise that she's crying until her hand is at her face, wiping away all remnants of emotion. Before she is anything else here, she is brave. " _Goodbye_ , Jimmy." 

_"Maya!"_ In a few seconds of reprieve, she has forgotten that he is nothing if not furious. The way he screams sounds as if the very noise is tearing his throat on its way out.

 _I_ _should be brave_ is all Maya thinks, and suddenly that is enough for her to turn and run to the other door, leading to the elevator, scrambling for her jangle of keys. She hears Jimmy call out her name again, a guttural, animal noise, and it is immediately shut out by the crash of her blood in her ears. She abruptly realises that there is nothing for Jimmy here, as little as there is for her. Pity has never been enough to keep her anywhere. She has no great love for people who want to guilt her. She has never felt more alive in her life. 

She has wasted her chance. The _snick_ of the lockpick sinks her stomach like a stone. The hiss of the bat through the air is a quiet gift.

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to everyone who became very obsessed with this game very fast... kudos and comments would be much appreciated <3
> 
> i may just write a sequel


End file.
